Digital Me Elmo: Making a Compton Classroom Tech Savy

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

Veteran teachers in the Compton Unified School District, trade teaching technology stories with a mixture of dismay and pride. They describe endless tinkering involving duct tape and brute force to revive aging technology. While not quite a veteran, I have one or two of my own: the ancient record player I used to play after an old tape recorder broke; the CD Boombox that scratched all my discs and a peculiar TV/VCR combo that only fast-forwarded movies. It's time for an upgrade. I teach 5th grade science and social studies at Ralph J. Bunche Elementary, which is a Title I school in Compton, CA. Over 98 percent of our students are eligible for free lunch. The majority of our students are English Language Learners. In my teaching career I have learned how crucial the creation of visual images is to my students' vocabulary development, concept comprehension, and engagement. A Document Camera is an efficient, effective, and excellent ways to ensure the highest quality of science and social studies instruction, which I am responsible for teaching. The Document Camera provides countless opportunities for science instruction. Because the device projects images and actions occurring on its screen onto the main board students will easily understand experiment procedures. The device allows a teacher to show students not only what each material in an experiment does but what reactions or outcomes it may produce. Instead of walking around attempting to show everyone an experiment or having students take turns coming up to the teacher's desk the Document Feeder makes that process open to everyone to see. Rich discussions will surely follow and procedural missteps should be eliminated. The Document Camera also eliminates the need for extra supplies and resources that cost our school money and, consequently, cost our students opportunities for better supplies, field trips, and school essentials. Because the Document Feeder projects a paper image right onto screen the need for transparencies is eliminated. While many can be re-used the majority are only used once when we print science lab directions or maps on them for our students to use. Because our school teaches so many English Language Learners the more visual aids and graphic organizers the students can use with a teacher the better their opportunities for learning. Given the challenges my students face, developing this passion will enable them to achieve academically and increase their options for exploring the world and using the many gifts they possess. Thank you for your care and generosity.